I watched Atlantis take off on time at 2:20 EST from the Nasa causeway, supposedly the closest public viewing point. My brother and I sat in a set of bleachers with an official looking countdown clock directly in front of us on the grass. The vehicle assembly building was to our left and the shuttle sat inconspicuously about 30 degrees to the right on pad 39A.

Atlantis had it’s “back” to us and at six miles away, it was a little hard to make out much detail. You could see the launch tower and the orbiter, the SRB’s and of course the rust colored external tank, which was easily recognizable. But with a pair of small binoculars, you could clearly see the framework of the tower, the black cockpit windows and leading edges of the orbiter, as well as the ET’s vent hood and arm.

The Nasa causeway is a road built on land that crosses the Banana “River” which is actually a lagoon with an inlet in the south at the Atlantic Ocean. The waters edge along the viewing area was roped off about 25 feet from the shore to prevent alligator “encounters”. We didn’t see any alligators but there were several curious dolphin surfacing in front of the crowd. (I guess they wanted to see what all the commotion was about.) On a small island to the west were perched a dozen pink flamingos and standing on a spit of sand, jutting from the same island, stood four pelicans. The wildlife viewing was an added bonus.

After 3 hours of waiting in the hot but beautiful Florida sunshine, the final 40 minute hold was lifted and the countdown resumed at T-minus 9 minutes. At T-10 seconds the crowd of thousands started chanting “ten”…”nine”…”eight”… all the way down to LIFTOFF!!! Clapping and cheers rang out as a cloud of white smoke boiled out from beneath Atlantis.

There was a loudspeaker behind us and it had been broadcasting commentary and com chatter between the crew and ground control all day. The sound of the engine start and liftoff came over the speakers but about 30 seconds after liftoff, we were hit with the real thing- and the shock waves. Although gentle, the waves pounded against my chest as the roar and crackle of the boosters filled my ears. I don’t know if it was pride in my country or my admiration for the courage of the shuttle astronauts, but I had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat as Atlantis emerged above the cotton white cone of smoke.

The trailing flame, which was quite broad, was almost too bright to look at as Atlantis arced higher and higher. I couldn’t actually see the boosters separate but I did see what was left of their smoke trails branching to either side. After about 3 minutes, STS 132 became just a point of light reminiscent of Venus in the early morning sky and then... it was gone. But the smoke remained overhead like a writhing white serpent against the blue sky. I only took pictures of the smoke trail because I wanted to view the launch with my own eyes from the main engine start to where I could no longer see Atlantis.

I’m glad I did.

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I’ll be posting pics of our trip on the Community forum as soon as I get them sorted out and resized.
For a much better pictures go here:

http://www.launchphotography.com/STS-132.html